Saturday 2 January 2010

Hamas dismayed at Azhar edict



[ 02/01/2010 - 03:48 PM ]

GAZA, (PIC)-- Hamas has expressed dismay at the fatwa (religious edict) passed by the Egyptian Al-Azhar's Islamic research complex in which it endorsed Egypt's construction of a steel wall along its borders with Gaza Strip.

Hamas in a statement on Saturday wondered how come can Al-Azhar issue an edict that allows the starvation of one and a half million Palestinians while it should have passed an edict incriminating the closure of crossings.

The Movement wondered was the underground wall meant to protect the Egyptian national security or was it built to prevent the smuggling of milk and medicine to the Gaza children and patients.

It said that the Azhar should have first issued an edict incriminating the siege on Gaza and invoking Islamic leaders to break the siege through opening Rafah crossing as a first stage to help the besieged people in Gaza.

Hamas said that the Gaza people were defending, and would continue to defend, Egypt's security as well as theirs and Egypt would remain the strategic depth of Palestine and resistance.

Meanwhile, Palestinian resistance factions picketed the Rafah terminal on the Egyptian-Palestinian borders to protest the Egyptian construction of the "oppressive steel wall".

Khaled Abu Hilal, the secretary general of Ahrar Movement, said that the wall was posing threats to the lives of citizens, adding that Gaza was not smuggling narcotics but rather arms to confront the Israeli occupation.

River to Sea
 Uprooted Palestinian

WHEN THE OPPRESSED BECOMES THE OPPRESSOR ~~ TAKING KOSHER RACISM TO THE POLLS

January 2, 2010 at 11:12 am (Corrupt Politics, Hasbara, Israel, Opinion, Racism)

A rabbi that has enjoyed fame as the author of a controversial book known as ‘Kosher Sex’, has transformed himself into one of America’s most unkosher politicians.


Taking his pro Israel and anti Arab sentiments to the polls is just one more example of how the oppressed becomes the oppressor.

Without sounding paranoid, it’s time that we in the Jewish community face some facts. Across the globe it’s open season on Israel and the Jews. Why? Some would say that antipathy toward Jews is a law of physics. I disagree. It is happening because we allow it.

We are a powerful global economic market and we must seriously consider boycotting the products of countries whose shameful behavior mistreats Jews. For example, the situation in Britain is out of control: There have been attempts to ban Israeli professors from academic conferences; a magistrate issued an arrest warrant against Israel’s former foreign minister, Tzipi Livni, and the government issued an advisory allowing retailers to label products originating from the West Bank as being produced in Israeli settlements or by Palestinians. A serious conversation about whether or not to vacation in Britain or buy its products should now occur.

Our community must make it clear to our Catholic brothers and sisters how upset we are that Pope Pius XII is being considered for sainthood. Calling a man a saint who lost his voice while 6 million Jews died will irreparably harm Catholic-Jewish relations.

Here in the United States we have had to contend with the Obama administration’s canard that Israeli settlements are a major obstacle to Middle East peace. And it’s more than a little disappointing that the Netanyahu government has endorsed this fraud by instituting a 10-month freeze on settlements, thereby unjustly identifying some of Israel’s most patriotic citizens as its most intransigent.

In the face of such developments, more committed Jews must begin considering running for office. Rather than merely relying on friends to represent us, we must also begin representing ourselves.



The above is taken from the following ‘opinion piece’…..


Let the JTA know what your opinion is by creating a ‘trackback’ Trackback URL: http://jta.org/trackback/1009965/

River to Sea
 Uprooted Palestinian

Dweik: Cast lead and cast steel wall two faces of one coin

PIC

[ 02/01/2010 - 04:26 PM ]

GAZA, (PIC)-- Dr. Aziz Al-Dweik, the speaker of the Palestinian legislative council (PLC), has said that the operation cast lead launched by the Israeli occupation forces (IOF) against Gaza and the cast steel wall being built on the Gaza borders by Egypt were two faces of one coin.

Dweik was speaking in a recorded statement at the PLC headquarters in Gaza on Saturday while its members there were marking the first anniversary of the IOF bombardment of the premises.

He said that all attempts to besiege the Palestinian people would not bear the targeted fruit.

Barhoum: Zionist escalation, steel wall meant to pressure Hamas


[ 02/01/2010 - 10:39 AM ]

GAZA, (PIC)-- The recent spate of Israeli escalation of military attacks on the Gaza Strip affirms continuation of Israel's aggression and its intent on strangling the Strip encouraged by the world's silence, Fawzi Barhoum, the Hamas's spokesman, said on Saturday.

He told the PIC that the Arab and Islamic inaction in face of the Israeli attacks and tightened siege on Gaza would further encourage the "Zionist enemy" to go ahead in its attacks and commit more crimes and massacres.

The spokesman stressed that the Arab regimes should be quick to break the siege on Gaza and use all pressure cards on the "Zionist entity".

Barhoum said that the Egyptian construction of the underground steel wall along the borders with Gaza harmonizes with the Israeli siege and contributes in tightening the noose on one and a half million Palestinians.

He charged that such a scenario is meant to pressure Hamas and the Palestinian people into giving concessions in service of the "Zionist enemy's' goals".

River to Sea
 Uprooted Palestinian

MIRAK-WEISSBACH: Gaza one year after. The world has changed.

Austrailian For Palestine

January 3, 2010

 world without Zionism
by Muriel Mirak-Weissbach  -  Global Research -  1 January 2009

In this holiday season, we celebrate the birth of Christ, and the message of brotherly love, compassion, and forgiveness. This year we also commemorate the first anniversary of Israeli’s punitive aggression against the civilian population of Gaza, a conflict that left 1,400 Palestinians and 13 Israelis dead, and thousands wounded. The toll taken in economic, social, and psychological terms on the victim population has yet to be adequately tallied. (1) But the political impact has been unambiguous: far from consolidating the image of an all-powerful Israeli Defense Force whose brutal force can force subject peoples under occupation to shrink in fear, and can intimidate the international community into mute astonishment, the three-week spree of mad-dog violence against a helpless adversary sparked unprecedented outrage worldwide, and triggered a critical shift in attitudes toward Israel. This shift is not only moral and individual, it is political and institutional; for the first time in decades, official bodies of the United Nations are taking issue with the excesses of Zionism and calling its militant protagonists to account under international law.

Gaza was a watershed. Those 1,400 Palestinians did not die in vain. Their martyrdom has transformed political reality, and the world is not the same as it was before the onslaught. The hope is that justice will be done, those responsible for the massacre will be punished, and the basis will be laid for overcoming the adversary relationship once and for all.

The Goldstone Reflex

The IDF, acting like “mad dogs,” as Israeli military historian Martin van Crefeld would put it (2), not only ravaged the infrastructural basis of the Palestinian economy and society, but also deliberately targeted premises of the United Nations itself. Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon, visiting the remains of the bombed out UN headquarters, said he was “just appalled. Everyone is smelling this bombing still. It is still burning. It is an outrageous and totally unacceptable attack against the United Nations.”

Why the IDF should dare attack clearly designated U.N. facilities remains an enigma. Even the most Rambo-minded Israelis could not possibly have imagined they would come out scot free. Perhaps the reasons are to be found on a deeper psychological level: perhaps it is the case that the Israeli establishment, in its continuing hysteria to deny the historical fact of the 1947-1948 ethnic cleansing of Palestine (the Nakba), sought to eliminate facilities of the UNRWA, because UNRWA was the entity established to care for the Palestinian refugees who had been created by the Nakba. Whatever the underlying psychological motivations (and here clinical psychiatrists should be consulted), the fact is, the IDF did target those institutions, all of which were most conspicuously marked for identification.

And, as any rational person could have predicted, the response of the UN was to challenge the legality of the IDF’s actions, even in war. Ban Ki-Moon went ahead in June to instruct the UN Legal Counsel to prepare and formulate claims for compensation for these losses; a committee investigating the damage estimated it at $11 million, which the UN would demand Israel pay.

More important than material claims was the political decision to proceed against the perpetrators, through the instrument of a special UN commission. Established on April 3, 2009 by the president of the Human Rights Council, this Fact Finding Mission on the Gaza Conflict had the mandate “to investigate all violations of international human rights law and international humanitarian law that might have been committed at any time in the context of the military operations that were conducted in Gaza during the period from 27 December 2008 and 18 January 2009, whether before, during or after.” The Mission, led by South African Justice Richard Goldstone, met several times in Geneva in May, July, and August, and conducted three field visits, to Gaza and Amman. They spoke with Gaza authorities and those of the Palestinian Authority, but received no cooperation from the Israelis. They submitted lists of questions to all three sides, but received answers only from Gaza and the PA. They conducted 188 individual interviews and reviewed over 300 reports related to the war.

Their report, issued on September 15, 2009, was surprisingly courageous. Entitled, “Human Rights in Palestine and Other Occupied Territories: Report of the United Nations Fact Finding Mission on the Gaza Conflict” (http://www2.ohchr.org/english/bodies/hrcouncil/specialsession/9/FactFindingMission.htm), it charged that Israel had deliberately targeted and killed Palestinian police, attacked the UNRWA field office, which at the time housed 600-700 civilians, with “high explosive and white phosphorous munitions” (p. 14), “directly and intentionally attacked the Al Qods Hospital in Gaza City and the adjacent ambulance depot with white phosphorous shells,” and attacked the UNRWA school in Jabalya which housed 1,300 people with mortar shells – an attack it deemed “in violation of international law” (p. 15). The Mission further documented that Israelis fired on civilians fleeing their homes with white flags, and targeted a mosque with a missile during evening prayers. It found that in these cases, “the conduct of the Israeli armed forces constitute grave breaches of the Fourth Geneva Convention in respect of willful killings and willfully causing great suffering to protected persons and as such give rise to individual criminal responsibility. It also finds that the direct targeting and arbitrary killing of Palestinian civilians is a violation of the right to life” (p. 16). Furthermore, the UN investigating team studied incidents of destruction of infrastructure and concluded that “Unlawful and wanton destruction which is not justified by military necessity amounts to a war crime” (p. 17). Such infrastructure included industrial plants, food production, water installations, sewage treatment plans, housing, etc. In addition, Israeli forces used Palestinians as human shields, which “also is a war crime” (p. 19), and detained civilians, including women and children, in degrading conditions, inflicting on them “a collective penalty,” again in violation of Geneva and qualifying as a war crime (p. 20).

The Mission furthermore explored the effects of the 18-month blockade on Gaza in terms of destruction of economic infrastructure, health facilities, and educational institutions. It “considered whether the series of acts that deprive Palestinians in the Gaza Strip of their means of sustenance, employment, housing and water, that deny their freedom of movement and their right to leave and enter their own country, that limit their access [to] a court of law and an effective remedy, could amount to persecution, a crime against humanity” (p. 24).
The Mission attempted to delve into Israeli use of force against Palestinians on the West Bank, but was denied all access. It did, however, verify the treatment of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails, including 65 members of the Palestinian Legislative Council arrested in 2005, and deemed such practices in “violation of international human rights and humanitarian law” (p. 28).

At the same time, the Mission looked into allegations of violence and targeting of Hamas supporters by the Palestinian Authority, and found them inconsistent with the PA’s obligations under law. After examining the physical and psychological impact of Hamas-fired rockets into civilian areas in Israel, it stated such acts “would constitute war crimes and may amount to crimes against humanity” (p. 32).

Finally, the Goldstone group monitored Israel’s own hasty internal “investigations,” which claimed that the IDF had acted in accordance with the law, a conclusion the Mission questioned. After reviewing the modality of such probes, in comparison with requirements of international human rights law and humanitarian law, the Mission held that “the Israeli system of investigation does not comply with all those principles,” and that there were “serious doubts about the willingness of Israel to carry out genuine investigations in an impartial, independent, prompt and effective way as required by international law” (pp. 35-36).

In its recommendations, the Mission called on the UN Security Council to require a report from Israel, within six months, on the results of investigations it must undertake, and tasked the Security Council to establish a group of independent experts to report on the progress of the same. In the event that Israel were to fail to comply, the Security Council should hand over the matter to the ICC Prosecutor. The same procedure was to apply to the Gaza authorities.

If Israel snubbed minimal cooperation with the Goldstone team on the ground, after the release of their report, Tel Aviv went into clinical hysterical denial: authorities categorically pooh-poohed the allegations, justifying this with the notion that Goldstone was a “self-hating Jew,” and that the report was nothing but an attempt to rob Israel of its right to defend its people. The Jerusalem Post quoted Netanyahu on December 23 as saying, “Goldstone is a codeword for an attempt to delegitimize Israel’s right to self-defense.”

The Judge’s Record

Goldstone’s curriculum vitae tells a different tale, one that the international community has largely acknowledged.  Judge Richard Goldstone chaired the “South African Standing Commission of Inquiry Regarding Public Violence and Intimidation,” later dubbed the Goldstone Commission, which uncovered and published crimes by security forces during the Apartheid era. This led to the draft of a Road Map which the “Truth and Reconciliation Commission” took up. Goldstone served as a justice on the Constitutional Court after democratic elections (1994-2003). In August 2004 he became chief prosecutor to the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) and, later that year, performed the same role in the case of Rwanda (ICTR). He sat on the international panel investigating Nazi activities in Argentina (CEANA) in 1997, and chaired the International Independent Investigation on Kosovo from August 1999 to December 2001. He is also a trustee of the Hebrew University in Jerusalem.

With such qualifications, it is difficult to condemn Goldstone as a biased actor, much less an anti-Semite or a “self-hating Jew.” But that is what a hysterical Israeli establishment has done. When asked in an interview with Tikkun  (http://www.tikkun.org/article.php/20091002111513371) on October 1, 2009, how he responded to such accusations of betraying Israel, Goldstone answered that it reminded him of similar charges lodged against him, a white South African, that he was “going against the interest of whites during Apartheid.” He went on: “And I said I thought having regard to the terrible history of the Jewish people, of over 2000 years of persecution, I found it difficult to understand how Jews wouldn’t respond in protecting the human rights of others.” Human rights, he added, were “a fundamental Jewish value.”

His group’s report appeared in September, and the UN Human Rights Council discussed it a month later, endorsing it on October 16, and recommending it be sent to the General Assembly and Security Council. This was over the no votes of the US. Israel’s UN Ambassador Gabriela Shalev found it all a waste of time, and reiterated the stance adopted by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and shared by the US, that any further debate about the Goldstone Report would sabotage the so-called peace process. Netanyahu moved into high gear following the vote, announcing that Israel had to brace for a protracted battle against the report. “The delegitimization [of Israel],” he said, “must be delegitimized,” Aljazeera reported on October 18. He added that “The UN has returned to the dark days during which it equated Zionism with racism.”
Israel then scrambled to block the report from being sent to the General Assembly or the Security Council. Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman spoke by phone with Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon on October 22, according to PressTV, and told him that he hoped Ban would not push the report onto the other venues. That ploy failed, and it reached the General Assembly for debate, where, despite US-led efforts to block it, a majority of 114 voted it up on November 5. (Eighteen voted no, and 44 abstained.) Ban Ki-Moon then presented it to the UN Security Council on November 10. According to the General Assembly’s resolution, Israel and the Gaza authorities have to conduct their own investigations into the allegations, which independent committees (foreseen by the Goldstone Report) should monitor. If, after six months, Israel does not come up with a credible report on serious probes into the allegations, the case could be forwarded to the International Criminal Court.

Whether or not it reaches that forum, the Goldstone Report has already fuelled a political offensive, led by Palestinians, aimed at bringing the Israeli establishment to account. Prominent Israeli political figures have found themselves in danger of being served arrest warrants for crimes against humanity (or war crimes) if they travelled abroad. One clamorous case involved former Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, who cancelled a visit to London in mid-December after authorities issued an arrest warrant against her. Although Livni’s office denied it, saying she cancelled for scheduling reasons, the Israeli Foreign Ministry lodged a formal complaint with the British authorities, charging that, if such nonsense continued, it would seriously jeopardize the peace process and Britain’s desired role in it! The British Foreign Office accommodated with gushing apologies, and the matter was put to rest, at least for the time being.(3)

The arrest order was possible due to the existence of a law in England and Wales which allows individuals to call for such warrants for alleged war crimes, even without a prosecuting lawyer. This, as the Times explained on December 21, was the work of a Hamas-backed committee of legal specialists, who have compiled their own account of 1,500 cases of alleged war crimes, and encouraged victims to file charges not only in Britain, but also Belgium, Spain, and Norway, where similar legal conditions exist. Hamas committee member Diya al-Din Madhoun told the Times that, although Hamas is not directly involved in arranging for warrants to be issued, such legal action “is definitely our policy.” He added, “We do this as a government trying to protect our people and prevent these massacres from occurring.” The independent lawyers receive documents and evidence indicating war crimes, and then, as soon as a relevant Israel official prepares to travel abroad, they move to secure an arrest warrant.

Livni was lucky. But the mere fact that she could have been hounded while travelling abroad, is highly suggestive. Aside from the formally legal aspect, such an event projects the image of Israeli leaders as possible war criminals who could be punished accordingly, essentially putting them in the same category as a Ratko Mladic, a Slobodan Milosevic, or a Radovan Karadzic.

Test Case: Germany

The political/psychological implications of these developments are vast. The Goldstone Report has revolutionized public opinion regarding Israel and shattered taboos concerning what one may or may not say about Israel. Such taboos had made it literally impossible to conduct a rational political debate on Israeli foreign policy.

Nowhere has this reign of taboos been so powerful as in Germany. There was a time when any political figure who dared utter critical remarks about Israel or its foreign policy stance, or who spoke in terms considered politically incorrect about Germany’s past, would be promptly removed from office, no questions asked. This was the case of Philipp Jenninger, President of the Bundestag, who delivered a speech in November 1988 commemorating the 50th anniversary of the Kristallnacht. Certain formulations in his speech regarding the impact Nazi ideology had on the German population were utterly misconstrued and damned as anti-Semitic, and he was forced to resign. Other German politicians who dared question Israeli policy, criticizing the disproportionate use of force in Lebanon 2006, etc., became targets of similar witch-hunts.
Gaza changed all that. Not only did Germans take to the streets during the conflict to protest Israeli brutality, but in the ensuing months, public figures spoke out about the need to distance German policy from that of intransigents in Israel. One such intervention came from Dr. Gerhard Fulda, a former diplomat and leading member of the German-Arab Society, who in August issued a call for a change in German (and European) foreign policy towards the Middle East. Fulda stressed the need to hold Israel to account, regarding implementation of UN resolutions which consider annexations, be it of the Golan Heights, Jerusalem, or the West Bank, as illegal. Arguing against Israel’s renaming areas with Old Testament names, Fulda stated: “religion-based territorial claims cannot be allowed in our view. Jewish belief does not stand above international law.” The former diplomat also called for an end to the practice whereby the EU – and in the front line, Germany – periodically have to pledge funds at donor conferences to rebuild infrastructure destroyed by Israel, knowing that that infrastructure will only be obliterated in the next conflict. Instead, Fulda suggested a form of sanctions, whereby illegal Israeli actions, including settlement expansion, could be punished by withholding funds.

It is not likely that any government in Berlin would introduce such measures; but the mere public discussion of the option signals a new wind is blowing in Germany. The best proof of this is the fact that the Goldstone Report in its entirety will appear in German. The group which assumed the awesome task of translating the mammoth report and publishing it is the editorial staff of Semit, a bi-monthly magazine issued by a group of German Jews and others who refuse to condone Israeli government policies, and consequently refuse to be represented by the official organ of the Jews in Germany, the Zentralrat der Juden in Deutschland, which is nothing but a rubber-stamp for Tel Aviv’s foreign policy. Abraham Melzer, publisher and editor-in-chief of Semit, launched the Goldstone Report translation project with an eye to making the official documentation of Israeli war crimes available to relevant German institutions. All members of the Bundestag, the Parliament, as well as government offices should receive the voluminous 650-page documentation, slated to appear early in the New Year.

Melzer’s magazine Semit has become a forum for sane forces in Germany and abroad – Jewish and not – who recognize the need to free German political institutions and the broader German public from the psychological control mechanisms borne of the Second World War tragedy, mechanisms which dictate obeisance to the vast array of taboos regarding Israel. Among its recent initiatives, the group around Semit organized a public event featuring Israeli writer and former politician Avraham Burg, an outspoken critic of current Israeli policy. Burg, who was chairman of the Jewish Agency and Chairman of the Israeli Knesset (parliament) left his posts and all political life in Israel five years ago, in protest. In his 2009 book, Hitler Besiegen: Warum Israel sich endlich vom Holocaust loesen muss, (Defeating Hitler, Hebrew edition 2007, The Holocaust Is Over: We Must Rise From Its Ashes, English edition, 2008) he argues that the historical obsession with the Holocaust has become a burden for Israel, Jews worldwide, and the West, especially Germany. They all must overcome the trauma, which means finding a new identity for Israel. Burg told his audience in Frankfurt that, as he saw it, historical Zionism had achieved its aims; therefore, it was time to go beyond Zionism and seek reconciliation with Israel’s Arab neighbors. His presentation before a standing-room-only crowd, testified to the enormous interest that significant layers of the German public have for dissident trends inside Israel.

Burg’s book is not the only one of this genre that has appeared in German; over the last two years other volumes by leading Israeli dissidents have become available, including Tom Segev. The most important release, Ilan Pappe’s Die etnische Saeuberung Palaestinas (The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine) in 2007, is the definitive Israeli documentation of the events of 1947-1948, during which the Zionist leadership under David Ben-Gurion literally removed the Palestinian presence from its land in the Nakba (Catastrophe). Palestinian historians, first among them Walid Khalidi, had documented the ethnic cleansing as early as 1961, but Pappe was the first Israeli historian, with access to Hebrew-language documents, to confirm the Arab account in spades and to characterize it as ethnic cleansing.(4) During the last year 2008, which commemorated at once the founding of the state of Israel and the expulsion of the Palestinians, an important exhibit was organized in Germany by the Fluechtlingskinder im Libanon e.V. (Association for Refugee Children in Lebanon). The exhibit documents in photos and texts exactly what occurred in the fateful year 1948. For many Germans, it was a challenging eye-opener. And the exhibit will continue to travel from city to city.

Such initiatives in Germany speak volumes for the quiet revolution in thinking that is unfolding in the political elites as well as the general population. This does not mean, however, that all fanatical voices have been silenced. When German President Horst Koehler awarded a high German honor, the Bundesverdienstkreuz, to Israeli lawyer and human rights defender Felicia Langer, on July 16, 2009, the pro-Israel lobby screamed. The Zentralrat der Juden and others demanded the prize be revoked, on grounds that Langer, who has dedicated her life to defending the rights of all — Arab or Israeli –, had uttered anti-Israeli statements. Some slandered her as a communist, and so forth. When a weekend seminar was organized in Munich with Ilan Pappe on October 23-25, the official Jewish community rose up in protest. The Deutsch-Israelische Gesellschaft AG in Muenchen sent a letter to the city authorities, denouncing Pappe for his historical research, and demanded that they deny Pappe the room provided for the seminar. The room was promptly denied. But just as promptly, organizers found an alternative room.

Such reactions are to be expected, and such guerilla warfare around logistics will continue. But no matter: the point is Germans — both individual German citizens and some German institutions – have finally entered the process of freeing themselves from the psychological conditioning imposed since the end of the Second World War.

None of this would have been thinkable before the Gaza war of 2008-2009. The Israelis miscalculated totally. And those responsible will pay
.
Prospects for Peace?

What does all this imply for the so-called peace process? At present, it is simply not on the agenda. Nothing of the sort is thinkable with the current Israeli government, or, better, with the current Israeli establishment. If there is ever going to be any hope for a just peace, Israel must change, and change fundamentally. As I argue in my recent book, Through the Wall of Fire (6), a stubborn obstacle to overcoming the adversary relationship between Israelis and Arabs – which was born of the Zionist takeover of Palestine and expulsion of its people — is Israel’s refusal to recognize this historical wrong. Coming to terms with this past, as Pappe’s work dramatizes, means putting into question the mythos surrounding the Zionist account of events and their pseudo-religious justification. Burg’s book takes a step in the direction of overcoming the trauma of the Holocaust, but it stops short of questioning the problematic aspects of the Zionist vision. Grass-roots movements inside Israel, like Zochrot (“We Remember”), are campaigning actively to spread public awareness of what happened in 1947-1948 among Israeli citizens.

In addition to the “new historians” around Pappe, there is an intriguing new theatre initiative involving young Germans, Israelis, and Palestinians, who recently toured Germany. This “Third Generation” theatre group is, significantly, composed of youth whose grandparents were protagonists or victims of the Holocaust, the Nakba, the Nazi regime, and World War II.(5)  The highly talented actors present not a play, but a multi-layered dialogue which unfolds as a series of exploding firecrackers; every imaginable cliché attached to each of the three social-historical groups is decimated through ruthless ridicule. At the same time, they relive the true suffering experienced by each of the three. This Third Generation theatre group does not offer any suggestion at all of how the tragic German/Jewish/Arab complex can be resolved on a higher plane, but that does not undermine the value of the experiment: if there are young people in these milieux today who are pitilessly attacking the prejudices, myths, and outright lies they have grown up with, that in itself indicates the potential for a new leadership to emerge. And the power of humor, political satire, and ridicule is almighty: in the case of the former Communist regime in East Germany, the subject population demonstrated creative ingenuity in anti-Honnecker jokes. Once a regime becomes subject to open ridicule by its own people, that regime is finished.

Leadership is the key factor in overcoming the Arab-Israeli conflict. And this is what is sorely lacking on all sides. The Israeli establishment (emphatically including its military elite) has demonstrated its moral bankruptcy in the Gaza war and continuing oppression. The Palestinians are divided as never before, increasingly since the Gaza war. When Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas bent to US pressures, and withdrew Palestinian demands to support endorsement of the Goldstone Report by the UN Human Rights Council, Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank took to the streets. Although immediate protest forced him to reverse his stance and the PA did vote for endorsement, the discredited Abbas soon after announced his decision not to run for reelection. Who should take his place? Marwan Barghouti is one figure with the potential to reunite the shattered Palestinian camp, but whether or not Israel would release him from prison, is a question mark. He could, like Nelson Mandela in South Africa, provide the leadership required.

In his Tikkun interview, in fact, Goldstone stressed that the South Africans were “lucky” at the time to have leaders like Nelson Mandela and DeClerk who were capable of delivering on promises. In Israel, the tragedy today is that there is no political party which stands for peace, and no single national figure who has broken free of the mental ideological shackles which have trapped Israeli policy in a no-win conflict with the Palestinians. This is what must change: Israel needs a new leadership.

This means the leopard is going to have to lose its spots. Israel’s political establishment is going to have to undergo a profound identity crisis, and recognize that the ideology of radical Zionism, which fuelled the Nakba and the continuing persecution of Palestinians, is morally bankrupt and therefore politically doomed. Just as the events of 1989, especially in East Germany, demonstrated, the ideology of Communism was bankrupt and therefore could not survive, despite the military power of the state, and despite the fervent belief by Erich Honneker et al, that the system would endure for millennia. The crisis and subsequent disintegration of the apartheid South African regime was another case in point. These were failed states, or failed systems. The same is true of Israel today.

How could such a crisis erupt in Israel? In my view, it is already simmering. When Netanyahu compares the “Goldstone threat” with the perceived Iranian nuclear threat, as he did December 23, he is broadcasting to the world that the Tel Aviv establishment is about to blow. International pressure, precisely of the type generated by the Goldstone Report, is instrumental in bringing such a healthy crisis to the fore. More of the same is needed. Were the US government to wield the undeniable power it has, and exert pressure of a political and financial nature on Israel, that could surely detonate an internal political explosion. But, given the recent performance of the Secretary of State while visiting Israel, followed by the US’s refusal to endorse the Goldstone Report, and the US Congress’s sterling performance on the same, it would be folly to imagine that President Obama’s alluring words in Cairo were worth more than the paper they were written on.

Other powers in the world are going to have to pick up the ball after Obama punted. Massive pressure, in Goldstone’s estimation, is required to force Israel to conduct the investigations demanded. If it fails to comply, then let the case go to the ICC. If the US, predictably, uses its veto power to prevent such a move, that will only further discredit the Obama administration in the eyes of the world.

Israel urgently needs a crisis, a “healthy trauma” which can shatter the consensus among the establishment and mobilize sane forces in the population to demand a fundamental rethinking of what nationhood means, what it means to be an Israeli. Part of this rethinking process will definitely focus on the issue of whether there should be two states – Israel and Palestine – or one multi-ethnic, multi-religious state with equal rights for all citizens. There are increasingly voices inside Israel calling for this latter option. And the pledge by the Hamas leadership, on the occasion of the twenty-second anniversary of the movement’s founding, that the solution lay in the liberation of all of Palestine, is a translation of the same idea in military terms.

Gaza was a turning point. It broke pernicious taboos and placed a new challenge on the agenda for the people and leadership of Israel: do they want to go down in history as yet another failed state? Or are there new political forces capable of meeting the historical challenge?

Notes

1. See the report of the International Committee of the Red Cross, of June 29, 2009, “Gaza: 1.5 million people trapped in despair,”
http://www.icrc.org/web/eng/siteend0.nsf/htmlall/palestine-report-260609? See also my book, “Through the Wall of Fire Armenian – Iraq – Palestine: From Wrath to Reconciliation, edition fischer, 2009, Part Three, Chapter Two: The Battle for Gaza.
2.  Martin van Crefeld is an Israeli military historian, author of many books on war. In comments on Israel’s plans to deport Palestinians, as well as on Israel’s conduct of the 2006 war against Hezbollah, he used the term “mad dogs” to characterize the IDF’s disproportionate use of force.
3. According to PressTV on December 15, the British Foreign Office statement said: “The UK is determined to do all it can to promote peace in the Middle East and to be a strategic partner of Israel.” It added, “To do this, Israel’s leaders need to be able to come to the UK for talks with the British government. We are looking urgently into the implications of this case.” According to the Times on December 21, Israeli President Shimon Peres weighed in with the British to repair “one of the greatest political mistakes” London could make, and reported that the British government had promised it would “fix this.” Gordon Brown and David Miliband were deeply concerned; the Foreign Office and Commonwealth Office said that the government was “looking urgently at ways in which the UK system might be changed in order to avoid this sort of situation arising again.”
4. Walid Khalidi, “Plan Dalet: Master Plan for the Conquest of Palestine,” Journal of Palestine Studies, Vol. XVIII, No. 1, Autumn, pp. 3-70. This included a reprint of his 1961 article. See also my book, Part Three, Chapter Three: Palestine Lost.
5. The members of the Third Generation group are contemporaries of the young Israeli and Arab musicians who constitute the West-Eastern Divan orchestra, founded ten years ago by Daniel Barenboim and Edward Said. At the height of the Gaza war, on December 12, 2008, Germans, including German Jews, as well as Israelis and other foreigners flocked to the Berlin Staatsoper to attend an extraordinary concert by the orchestra. The Third Generation – works in progress – is directed By Yael Ronen.

The author can be reached at mirak.weissbach@googlemail.com
Muriel Mirak-Weissbach is a frequent contributor to Global Research. Global Research Articles by Muriel Mirak-Weissbach
River to Sea
 Uprooted Palestinian

URGENT ISRAELI NAVY BLOCK VIVA PALESTINA AID CONVOY

From Irish4Palestine

Salam UP,just go this update: Israeli navy is blocking the convoy by sea!! they are now trapped in Syria

 URGENT ISRAELI NAVY BLOCK VIVA PALESTINA AID CONVOY

I just got am urgent report from the Derry to Gaza team on the Viva Palestina convoy in Syria with the latest developments which are not very good for the Convoy or Gaza:

The boats were loaded with aid today and ready to leave for AL Arish, the plan was that we would meet them there, as we would fly to Al Arish and arrive before the boats.

However, the update is that the Israelis have just announced that they will be performing military operations in these waters and therefore the aid has no way of passing through these waters. So there is no point getting flights to Al Arish tomorrow as the aid wont be arriving. Of course, it now seems highly unlikely that we will get to the Rafah crossing between the 3rd and 6th when Egypt said the gates would be open to us. The Convoy is now brought to a total standstill. The Israelis have pulled a very dirty tactic here if what we are hearing is true. For now this is all we are hearing. More updates when we get them.


Derry to Gaza Team

River to Sea
 Uprooted Palestinian

Baroud: The steel wall will cause environmental disasters for Gaza and Egypt


[ 02/01/2010 - 10:02 AM ]

GAZA, (PIC)-- Dr. Naim Baroud, a Palestinian professor of geography, warned that the building of the steel wall would cause environmental and health disasters for both the Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip and the Egyptian people in Sinai.

In a press statement published Friday by Palestine newspaper, Dr. Baroud noted that Egypt’s underground aquifer in Sinai is shared with Gaza and fed by rainwater which flow from south to north and vice versa to feed all this inter-aquifer, adding that the steel wall would affect the flow of water into this basin.

The professor also said that Egypt’s intention to pump large amounts of very salty water, which is unfit for human use and contains pollutants, from the Mediterranean sea into the Palestinian-Egyptian borders will change the chemical properties of the inter-aquifer and turn its sweet water into highly saline water.

He warned if this happens, the Egyptian and Palestinian citizens in the area of this aquifer will be no longer able to use water wells.

The professor stressed that the danger of this steel wall are not confined to the contamination of groundwater, but also it will affect the soil, where the iron pipes planted in the ground and the drilling rigs that operate on a daily basis will lead to the disintegration of this soil, which is already loose, and to landslides in the areas surrounding the wall.

The professor also touched on other ecological impacts of this wall and criticized Egypt for not conducting environmental, hydrological and economical studies to determine the hazards of this wall.

As for the ability of Gaza people to find alternative solutions to the problem of the steel wall, the professor expressed his optimism that Gazans could invent creative ways to beat and resist this wall.

In a related context, Palestinian minister of interior Fathi Hammad stated Friday that any concrete or steel walls would not deter the Palestinian people in Gaza from obtaining freedom.

During a cultural meeting held in Gaza, Hammad noted that the Gaza people would be able to penetrate all walls.

Saudi scholar Youssef Al-Ahmed, a professor at the university of Imam Mohamed Ibn Saud in Riyadh, issued a fatwa (religious edict) forbidding the construction of Egypt’s steel wall.

The fatwa, which was posted Friday on Noor Al-Islam network website, says that this wall is religiously prohibited and one of the greatest sins in Islam.

For his part, Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri, said, during a ceremony held Friday to honor families of martyrs in the neighborhood of Al-Daraj, east of Gaza city, that the Gaza people, who remained steadfast in the Israeli war, will never fail to beat any walls besieging them.

River to Sea
 Uprooted Palestinian

RAEL MUST BE HELD TO ACCOUNT FOR THE MISERY IN GAZA

Via Desertpeace

Gaza in crisis
By Sonja Karkar


Emphasis in ‘Red’ is mine (DP)


‘Gaza’ (Hatem Omar, Maan Images)

They came one cold December day. Not fearless warriors but fearsome hoardes hell-bent on destruction of the genocidal kind that leaves no room for regeneration. That was one year ago in Gaza.

The attack shocked a complacent world into finally seeing Israel’s merciless ferocity against the Palestinians already hounded, herded and imprisoned in compounds throughout their land, if not actually driven out. More than sixty years of Western devotion to Israel’s security was blown wide open as truth shattered spin in three weeks of carnage and devastation.

Dead bodies do not lie and neither do the maimed and the disfigured. Thousands have been left to make sense of the horrors they saw and the hollow aftermath to which they have been abandoned. Landscapes of rubble as far as the eye can see are still testament to the homes once standing in villages and towns, the homeless now huddled in tents while they wait one year on for materials to re-build. Little food, contaminated water, rationed fuel and electricity and the barest of medical supplies are just more of many cruel and wanton deprivations pushing Palestinian society to the limits of endurance.

This is Gaza: a population of 1.5 million people kept in formaldehyde by Israel’s crippling siege. It is a human catastrophe that has many enablers. World leaders have shut their eyes to the crimes witnessed and documented countless times over by human rights groups. World media continuously sidesteps the truth and deliberately ignores international efforts to highlight the humanitarian crisis. Together they are complicit in Israel’s dehumanisation of a people.
We are also complicit if we remain silent and do nothing. It is not enough to know and empathise. Change can only come from people being engaged – learning, thinking, communicating, and being prepared to act.

Almost 2000 internationals have taken action. Some 200 are in Jordan after a three-week trek through Europe in the Viva Palestina convoy of trucks filled with humanitarian aid while another 300 joined them from Greece, Turkey and Jordan; and then, there are the 1400 who have landed in Egypt from all over the world for the scheduled Gaza Freedom March on 31 December. Neither group has been given clearance to enter Gaza. This is where the rest of us who were unable to join these brave souls can bring some power to bear.

There simply is no time to waste. Letters, faxes, emails must be written to governments, embassies and media outlets. Not one letter, not one time, but a constant stream. We have to urge friends and families to write as well.

We have to urge governments to put pressure on Egypt to open the Rafah crossing and pressure on Israel to lift the siege. We have to hound the media like they hound us when they sniff a story. And Gaza is a story that needs to be told. The marchers and the convoy bringing aid to a besieged Gaza are only a part of that story. The real story is Israel’s ethnic cleansing of the Palestinians from their homeland.

Israel must be held to account because it is the instigator of all this misery. Israel has acted with impunity for far too long. It is a bully in world affairs and our leaders and media are all shamefully intimidated. Only people coming together collectively can change that dynamic – and we must come together, before we too become craven hostages to Israel’s criminal enterprise.

Standing up for Palestinian human rights is not anti-Semitic because the Palestinians are also a Semitic people. Nor is it anti-Israel, but rather a protest against Israel’s Zionist policies and practices designed to permanently fragment and dissipate Palestinian society. So brutal is its Zionist agenda and so contrary to Judaic teachings that many Jews are already speaking out in shame at what is being done in their name.

As decent and honourable citizens of the world, we too need to speak out in shame at what we have allowed to occur for far too long. Terrible crimes have been committed and some predict that even more terrible ones are to come. The reality is that all along we have been witnessing a slow genocide and we have allowed guilt, pragmatism and self-interest to stand in the way of our common humanity. The world needs to say “enough” and refuse to indulge Israel’s Zionist leaders and advocates whose free ride has taken them to the heady heights of arrogance. That universal effort needs to begin before the bitter winter freezes any kind of hope in Gaza and it needs to be sustained for as long as it takes to free all of Palestine. Anything less, will hasten a 21st century genocide.

Sonja Karkar is the founder of Women for Palestine and co-founder of Australians for Palestine in Melbourne, Australia.
Source

River to Sea
 Uprooted Palestinian

Wall of Shame, Viva Palestinia, and some Free minds for .....

As I expected Mary, the "defender of free speech";didn't pass my reply to here comment,

Hopefully, I kept a copy.

Most likely, she will claim like last. I is a technical issue.

To close the account, and save my energy for my site, I am posting here her comment, my reply, and samples of her readers reactions on Haitham's "Bombshell"

Out of all commenter's she selected me, because I have a site, and she thinks that I am after her site.


Check the full debate here

Mary Rizzo on December 30th, 2009 at 21:03

UP, what's Haitham's "real agenda"?


I know what it is: to liberate Palestine and be liberated himself as a Palestinian.
You, being Palestinian must understand what that means. That the lack of unity of Palestinians has NEVER helped them and this means to stop fighting on the one side Fatah and on the other side Hamas but to all together FIGHT THE ZIONISTS. To get every zionist out of their land and to get every Palestinian who will sell them to Zionists out of office.

He did indeed show his support of the International Freedom Fighters, please read carefully. He does NOT want them to be USED to promote anything but what they are supposed to do; in this case, bring awareness of the siege and of the occupation of Gaza.

They certainly should and MUST complain to Egypt and about what Egyptian regime is doing, but if this becomes the entire campaign, I personally, as an activist, would have asked where did Israel fit in all of this? Did the purpose of the campaign shift?
Does that question not cross through your mind?

WHY did Galloway's group even go if they knew they would not be able to set the conditions themselves? Unless making that the central story was it? I don't know, but when we get answers, we will be glad about it, and so should you.
anyone who does not show accountability for their actions is doing wrong. Moreso if they do it using your people.

Many know things that they are not saying, so what can I say other than the truth will come out sooner or later. No one, Haitham included, calls for the return of Dahlan! It is easy to insert insinuations.

The PA does NOT want Hamas to have full authority, and so, there are deals being made in ways none of us know all about. Of this you can be sure. But, who is supposed to control the border? Who do you recommend to do it? Not a rhetorical question, but think of what you want to answer.


Haitham did NOT defend the iron wall, he said why EGYPT would decide to make it, that is how i read it. He is not the creature you are attempting to depict him as, and what precisely good does it do to attack him in this way?
I personally don't believe in the Al Qaeda stuff, if they even exist, but I don't hear the Arab radio, I don't know what anyone there is saying if it's not in English, and I can assure you, there is every kind of propaganda and information one may want. There are many factions that are divided. All of this exists and it is wrong. I can guess that things are never quite as they seem. I can also guess that the Wall would never need to exist of Egypt would open the crossings. Why don't they do it? I still believe it has to do with the Israel/US/Arab Powers factions and for once, it would be important to really fight all who are in these powers instead of ONE ANOTHER.

Mary.
Though outraged, I spend one night thinking whether I should comment on Haithem's post or not. I was sure you would Jump to attack me like you did last time.

You wrote at my site:
So your job is smearing Haitham and his sites and work?

You may read my answer there.

Here I would comment on what you wrote here.

I personally, as an activist, would have asked where did Israel fit in all of this? Did the purpose of the campaign shift? Does that question not cross through your mind?

That question was always in my mind, until Pharaoh decided to play his last Card: THE WALL OF TRAESON, Built according to Haitham, to protect Pharaoh's citizens, stop Drug business, Smuggling Al-Qaeda likes….

You claimed that

Haitham did NOT defend the iron wall, he said why EGYPT would decide to make it, that is how I read it. Go read it again, and read the comments of many readers, in particular Jeff Blankfort ,
who read it rightfully as I did.

December 30th, 2009 at 13:56:

"We all know that Hamas is not a government anymore, …..Why do we ignore the fact that the PA asked Egypt to close Rafah border and blame Egypt (not to forget Israel)? …. and we saw evidences of this during many occasions such as pilgrimage this year and last year.……

We all know who controls the tunnels, and what they are used for. Who can dig a tunnel and who can't…… And we all know that the tunnels are not used ONLY for food. ….. If this is not enough reason for Egypt to construct this iron wall, I don't know what can be a good reason. …..Guess who is doing the trading and were the money goes. definitely not to buy food for the palestinians in Gaza."

Ladies and Gentlemen.

Is Hiatham telling his opinion or telling you what Egypt say??

As far as I know, smuggling business exists on every border worldwide. As far as Hamas is concerned, the main smuggling business is not only food, it’s the weapons used to stop the Invasion money, and men to get trained in Lebanon Syria, and Iran. It's also money, because no penny can cross Rafah crossing, even if it's within Haneya's pocket.

"He is not the creature you are attempting to depict him as, and what precisely good does it do to attack him in this way?"


I confess I find myself astounded, confounded and disgusted by Haitham's defense of Egypt in its responses to both the Gaza Freedom March and Viva Palestina. Had the Egyptian government not demonstrated for some years that is a tool both of the US and Israel (with the former being the tool of the latter), he might have had a leg to stand on. But he doesn't.

Egypt, not Israel, has to bear FULL responsibility for keeping its border with Gaza sealed. The police state of Egypt is simply an accessory to Israel's crimes out of fear of loss of aid at the hands of the US Congress which is constantly threatening to cut Egypt's billion plus annual funding.

While there may have been organizational problems with Viva Palestina, if Egypt was not a lickspittle for the US and Israel they would have let the convoy pass through, and while the Gaza Freedom March also had its problems, not surprising, given the size and nature of the march, again Egypt should have not cracked down on it the way it has and should have let the marchers and the aid into Gaza without hesitation. In fact, had Egypt not long ago betrayed the Palestinian struggle, neither Viva Palestina or the Gaza Freedom March would have been necessary.


Jeff Blankfort on
December 31st, 2009 at 23:01
Mary
He depicted himself, On PTT Anniversary, I remember you saying to Gilad: We Make the Media. Because he is partially making the alternative media, I called spade, spade. I am outraged when some Palestinian Generals, and Admirals who despite their intentions, serve directly or indirectly the Agendas of our Enemy, in creating despair, instead of creating hope, creating enemies, instead of creating friends, dividing instead of uniting. And the worst thing is putting International Activists on the Wrong Track instead of the right one.

"No one, Haitham included, calls for the return of Dahlan! It is easy to insert insinuations."

You know he called for the return of PA to control the crossing. And you know that Dahlan is the heart of that PA. While Gaza under attack, his thugs were there in Arish waiting the fall of the last fort.


I am almost on the same with the majority of the commenter's, and I salute the "astounded, confounded and disgusted" Jeff

I second every word he wrote. He hit the nail in saying: "Haitham, your undisguised hatred of Hamas has obviously clouded your thinking. A first time PTT reader might be forgiven for thinking your words were written by the Jerusalem Post's Khalid Abu Toameh"

Most likely, the statement may apply on his Biased Lawyer.

Jeff Blankfort on
December 31st, 2009 at 6:23:





Haitham,


I entered this conversation soemtime after you had initiated it and have just gone back to see if what others had criticized you for writing you had actually said and it turns out that they were correct: For example, you wrote:

"…Why do we ignore the fact that the PA asked Egypt to close Rafah border and blame Egypt (not to forget Israel)? Why in the world any country open its borders without any regulations? …"
I find all of those statements of your mind boggling.First, do you really think that Egypt would close the Rafah border because the PA asked them to? If you do, you are totally out of touch with reality. If the PA hardly has any credibility or power within the West Bank, do you really think that Mubarak would listen to anything that Abbas would have to say?

You go on:

"Let's assume the border is open, wont you have to pass through passport regulations at your country? That's the case everywhere. So, who decide if you or me can leave Gaza or not? What if I was a criminal running away from my country, how would Egyptians know? This is the responsibility of PA and national boarder police, which is NOT Hamas and which Hamas refusing to install back."

You write about the responsibility of the PA and the border police to monitor the borders. That you can do so when the PA forces do absolutely nothing to prevent the Israeli occupation forces from entering Palestinian towns and villages and assassinating or arresting whatever Palestinians they choose, do nothing to guard the non-violent demonstrators against the wall, but who were there to suppress demonstrations by West Bank Palestinians in support of their brothers and sisters in Gaza during Cast Lead, is equally unbelievable, but that, sadly, is not the end of it.

You write:

"So, keeping just the above example in mind, why would Egypt open the boarders? At the end of the day they have the right to protect their citizens…"

Do you believe that the dictator Mubarak gives a damn about protecting Egypt's citizens?. Are you serious?

And then, finally, after making a series of assumptions about the tunnels, you write, "If this is not enough reason for Egypt to construct this iron wall, I don't know what can be a good reason." It seems to me, after reading this several times, that you are justifying the building of the wall and blocking the tunnels. I am sure the Gazans will appreciate that sign of your support for them.
Haitham, your undisguised hatred of Hamas has obviously clouded your thinking. A first time PTT reader might be forgiven for thinking your words were written by the Jerusalem Post's Khalid Abu Toameh.


Richard Edmondson on January 1st, 2010 at 0:55:

Haitham writes

"I think this is a lesson for the activists to learn from. Viva Palestina and Gaza Freedom March made a mess and they involved everyone in it. It is embarrassing to act in such a way."

This seems overly harsh and critical. I'm not suggesting the leadership of either group should be regarded as above criticism. Constructive criticism is a good thing in any movement. But there's a proper time and place for it. Leveling such criticism now, at a time when people are on hunger strike to try and open the border, seems extraordinarily bad timing.

Don't get me wrong, I think Palestine Think Tank is a very good web site, extremely useful and informative. I take my hat off to Haitham, Mary, and others who contribute to it. I just think this one article has missed the mark.


nahida on January 1st, 2010 at 18:17


.Serious proclamations, accusations and indictments by Haitham:FIRST:
• Haitham claims: Hamas smuggles drugs
The "Wall of shame" as you call it is a different story. tell Hamas to stop smuggling drugs (one of many reasons) in and out from Gaza then we can speak about it. Keeping in mind that if Egypt wants to cut aid to Gaza, all what they need to do is close the road that leads to Egyptian Rafah.”SECOND:
• Haitham claims: Hamas smuggles terrorists groups
We all know who controls the tunnels, and what they are used for. Who can dig a tunnel and who can't. What can be brought from Egyptian Rafah and what should not. And we all know that the tunnels are not used ONLY for food. In fact food is just a cover to many other businesses and even worse a passage for terrorist groups such as Al-Qaedaa and their likes which Gaza are full with these days. If this is not enough reason for Egypt to construct this iron wall, I don't know what can be a good reason. That not to mention the drugs business. Guess who is doing the trading and were the money goes. definitely not to buy food for the palestinians in Gaza. ”THIRD:
• Haitham claims: Hamas are financially corrupt:
Hamas leaders are not living in tents and their kids don't miss a meal!
And we all know that the tunnels are not used ONLY for food. In fact food is just a cover to many other businesses
That not to mention the drugs business. Guess who is doing the trading and were the money goes. definitely not to buy food for the palestinians in Gaza. ”FORTH:
• Haitham Defends Egypt:
Egypt can do more and better, but they are not responsible for what we are in now, but the occupation and our PA and Hamas.”
“this turned to no more than smearing Egyptians, which have done to Gaza more than any other Arabian or Western country did.”
why would Egypt open the boarders? At the end of the day they have the right to protect their citizens
Why in the world any country open its borders without any regulations?
As for the passport thing, well, we should be thankful for egypt then that they take this risk.”
Are the Egyptians closing Rafah crossing by their own? No, the Palestinian Authority asked them to do that. ”FIFTH:
• Then he denies it:
no one is defending Egypt. I don't defend the Egyptian regime nor have sympathy with what they do. It's never happened”SIXTH:
• Haitham does not acknowledge the democratically elected Government of Hamas and blames them for what’s happening to Palestinians :
So if Galloway want to blame anyone and not the Israeli occupation, then it is the PA and Hamas”
“Egypt can do more and better, but they are not responsible for what we are in now, but the occupation and our PA and Hamas.”
“What if I was a criminal running away from my country, how would Egyptians know? This is the responsibility of PA and national boarder police, which is NOT Hamas and which Hamas refusing to install back.
“We all know that Hamas is not a government anymore”

“Hamas is not official regulationSEVENTH:
• Haitham Defends the WALL OF SHAME:
The "Wall of shame" as you call it is a different story”
“If this is not enough reason for Egypt to construct this iron wall, I don't know what can be a good reason”EIGHTH:
• Haitham doesn’t mind corrupted PA:

“That's what I'm saying. put the blame and the pressure on US, Western Power and the occupation, Israel. Then they will allow PA to run Rafah border, which in turn will make Egyptians opens it.
if the only way to ease the situation in Gaza is to put hand with corrupted PA, I don't mind.”
==================================
The question that begs an answer now:
where is your evidence Haitham??? And whose interest does all this proclamations, indictments and allegations serve other than the zionist occupiers??

nahida on January 1st, 2010 at 19:30:

This is the home of the Palestinian Prime Minister and Hamas member Ismail Haniyeh:
http://tinyurl.com/ybu3k83
I would love to see how it compares to the palaces of other world leaders and Arab tyrants including that of PA leaders and of Mubarak of Egypt !!
QUOTE:
"…. Unlike Fatah leaders, Haniyeh moves without escort, and mixes freely with people on the streets. He has turned down the offer of 4,000 dollars a month as salary, and accepts only 1,500 dollars, which is what he needs, he says, for his family that includes 13 children. And he still lives in his old house in Shati Camp, one of the poorest refugee camps in the east of Gaza City."
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=42079


exilem on January 1st, 2010 at 20:18:

As Uprooted Palestinian, Jeff Blankfort, Nahida and a few others eloquently stated, Haitham's article and subsequent comments above, are unsubstantiated allegations.
Such allegations against Palestinians, Gazans and their supporters, are the very same hateful soundbites we hear and see everywhere in Judeo-Zionist run smear campaigns.
They don't hold water, not even to the most elementary scrutiny.
For example the ludicrous accusations that "Hamas and Hezbollah collaborate with Mexican drug cartels", comes… straight from the US government propaganda kitchens:
http://www.infowars.com/us-government-hamas-hezbollah-collaborating-with-mexican-drug-cartels/
…and to use Haitham's own vernacular "we all know who controls these" poison kitchens.
Wherever the USA introduces wars and CIA, the drug business suddenly explodes, and that has one good reason: the CIA and the USA finance their covert operations with drug money. The CIA's narco-colonialism is dubbed by some "Cocaine Importing Agency". Contrary to US-America's propaganda kitchens, Afghanistan's <b<Muslim Pashtuns had been successful in eradicating the opium trafficking. It is only after the US invasion, that Afghanistan became the epicenter of opiate production, under the input of the CIA peddlers.
But what is Haitham trying to say? That Gazans are so bored, wealthy and well-fed, that there is place for a large drug consumption, i.e. trafficking in Gaza? Does it occur to him how ridiculous such statement is ?
Just like the Muslim Aghanis, the Muslim Hamas government is severely sanctioning drug trafficking
http://www.javno.com/en-world/hamas-approves-law-to-execute-drug-dealers_284185
JAVNO HRVATSKI
November 30, 2009 15:24h
….
The Islamist Hamas-run government ruling Gaza has approved a legal change that will allow for the execution of convicted drug dealers, its attorney general said on Monday.
……..
- The Zionist law included light punishments that encouraged rather than deterred those who take and trade in drugs, and there is no objective, national or moral justification for continuing to apply it – Abed said.
…….
Hamas, meanwhile, has cracked down on drugs, saying it has arrested more than 100 alleged drug dealers and users, with dozens of kilos of contraband, mostly marijuana, seized.
http://www.javno.com/en-world/hamas-approves-law-to-execute-drug-dealers_284185


nahida


on January 1st, 2010 at 20:25:
Hamas leaders are not living in tents”; says Haitham
==================================================
Many of Hamas leaders indeed are not living in tents -or homes for that matter- anymore, because many of those heroic people are NOT LIVING anymore; period.
They have been assassinated and martyred, many with their families and loved ones:
• Yahya Ayyash, (1996), Hamas' military wing
• Salah Shahade, (2002), leader of Hamas' military wing
• Ibrahim al-Makadmeh, (2003), co-founder of Hamas
• Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, (2004), leader and founder of Hamas
• Abdel Aziz al-Rantissi, (2004), leader of Hamas
• Izz El-Deen Sheikh Khalil, (2004), leader of Hamas' military wing
• Adnan al-Ghoul, (2004), leader of Hamas
• Nabil Abu Salmiya (2006), leader of Hamas
• Salah Abu Sharkh. (2009), leader of Hamas
• Mahmoud Abu Watfah (2009), leader of Hamas
• Ayad Siam (2009), leader of Hamas
• Said Siam (2009), leader of Hamas
• Nizar Rayyan (2009), leader of Hamas
To name but a few of the many THOUSANDS of those noble selfless souls